Determination of fruit maturity and its prediction model based on the pericarp index of absorbance difference (IAD) for peaches.

Binbin Zhang,Ruijuan Ma,Chunhua Zhang,Zhizhong Song,Bin Peng,Yuepeng Han

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0177511

Binbin Zhang, Ruijuan Ma + Show 4 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177511

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Abstract

Harvest maturity is closely related to peach fruit quality and has a very important effect on the fresh fruit market. Unfortunately, at present, it is difficult to determine the maturity level of peach fruits by artificial methods. The objectives of this study were to develop quadratic polynomial regression models using near-infrared spectroscopy that could determine the peel color difference, fruit firmness, soluble solids content (SSC), soluble sugar, organic acid components, and their relationships with the absorbance of chlorophyll (index of absorbance difference, IAD) in late maturing ‘Xiahui 8’ peach and ‘Xiaguang’ nectarine fruits. The analysis was based on data for fruits at veraison, fruits at harvesting maturity, and all fruits. The results showed that firmness has the highest correlation coefficient with IAD. Prediction models for fruit maturity were established between firmness and the IAD of the two cultivars using the quadratic polynomial regression method. Further variance analysis on the one degree term and quadratic term of each equation showed that every partial regression coefficient reached a significant or extremely significant level. No significant difference was observed between estimated and observed values after regression prediction. The regression equations seem to fit well. Other peach and nectarine varieties were used to test the feasibility of maturity prediction by this method, and it was found that maturity was successfully predicted in all the samples. The result indicated that the IAD can be used as an index to predict peach fruit maturity.

Highlights

In the peach market, the maturity at fruit harvest is always the main factor that restricts its commodity value
Determining peach maturity plays an important role in its timely harvesting, classification, packing, transportation, and the guarantee of commodity quality [1]
As a respiration climacteric fruit, peaches release an increased amount of ethylene during ripening, and gene transcription varies, which is often regulated by plant hormones [2,3,4]

Summary

Introduction

The maturity at fruit harvest is always the main factor that restricts its commodity value. Determining peach maturity plays an important role in its timely harvesting, classification, packing, transportation, and the guarantee of commodity quality [1]. As a respiration climacteric fruit, peaches release an increased amount of ethylene during ripening, and gene transcription varies, which is often regulated by plant hormones [2,3,4]. During this process, fruit firmness, the composition and ratio of fruit inclusion, and the peel color change and the quality related indicators are significantly different in fruits.

Objectives

Methods

Results